Drug Smuggler Melissa Reid To Arrive Back In UK

Drug mule Melissa Reid is expected to arrive in Glasgow later after spending nearly three years in jail in Peru.

The 22-year-old smiled as she arrived at Lima Airport on Tuesday evening with her father Billy and British Embassy staff, before being whisked through security by Peruvian officials overseeing her deportation.

It is understood she flew to Amsterdam and is expected back in Glasgow around 10pm on Wednesday night.

Reid, from Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, was caught with 23-year-old Michaella McCollum, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, trying to smuggle cocaine worth £1.5 million in mayonnaise bags from Peru to Spain in 2013.

The pair - nicknamed the "Peru Two'' - were jailed for six years and eight months after admitting the offence.

However, in May a judge granted Reid's expulsion under an early release scheme for deporting first-time drug offenders.

Janeth Sanchez, a spokeswoman for Peru's prison service, said on Tuesday that the Scot had "served her time in prison according to the law and can now go to her country, free, to the streets''.

A Scottish Prison Service spokeswoman said it is not involved with Reid's case.

McCollum was freed in March under new legislation but was required to remain on parole in Peru.

The two women had initially claimed they were forced into carrying the drugs, but then pleaded guilty to the charges.

McCollum and Reid faced the prospect of a maximum 15-year prison term but struck a behind-closed-doors plea bargain to secure the shorter sentence.

Around nine in 10 of the 1,809 foreigners in Peru's prisons are either sentenced or awaiting trials for drug trafficking.

Reid's father has previously said the impact of his daughter's crime on his family had been ''horrendous'', and spoke in a video warning of the consequences of drug offences abroad.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: "We continue to provide assistance to Melissa Reid and remain in contact with her family and local authorities.''

It is understood Reid will not have a criminal record in the UK as a result of her conviction in Peru.

The latest statistics from admissions body Ucas, published as pupils south of the border received exam results on Thursday, outline that 16.5% of 18-year-old applicants from England accepted to university were from the poorest areas.